Friday, May 28, 2010

Slate is publishing a fascinating series of articles on Professor Elizabeth Loftus and her studies of memory and repressed and recovered memory. The series starts here. If you claim to be a well-educated person, you should read these articles.

But the articles overdo the praise for Loftus: she cannot be given sole credit for debunking "repressed and recovered memory." (In any event, U.S. States and jurisdictions have not yet reached a consensus that "repressed and recovered memory" is junk science. Social psychoanalysis suggests that the political and social pressures for the opposite conclusion remain strong -- too strong. For example, in Massachusetts the careers of a number of prominent politicians were partially built on the zealous pursuit of some cases based substantially on "repressed and recovered memories.")

About Me

Student of the law of evidence, evidence, inference, and investigation. Sometimes writes books. Sometimes writes articles. Sometimes tinkers with computer programs to support the marshaling of evidence for legal activities such as trials and pretrial discovery and investigation. And sometimes takes photographs.